49

MICK AND I ARE HOLDING hands under the conference table at the lawyer’s office. Teagan is on my other side, holding my other hand. Rebel is at work, unable to get away from the huge workload that was made worse by our road trip and then Mick’s subsequent focus on me and my family. A lot has happened in a week, not the least of which is this head-to-head with the lawyers.

“So tell us exactly what this so-called secretary said to you.” The young lawyer speaking to Mick looks very happy but the older one, not so much.

“She said a lot of things, but mainly that Teagan’s dad was fine up until the last couple months before he died and then he just kind of went downhill fast.”

“Downhill in what way?” the lawyer asks. Teagan squeezes my hand hard.

Mick responds. “Getting absent-minded. Nauseated. Sweaty. Disoriented.

Chest pains.”

“Sounds like heart attack symptoms,” says the older lawyer.

“Not really. It went on for weeks, not just days. But that’s not the worst part.” Mick looks at Teagan,